CHICAGO—The Stanley Cup finals between the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks is the most difficult of the playoff series I've had to pick, not least of all because I picked against both teams in the last round. Each conference champion is facing an opponent with strengths similar to the one they knocked off in the conference finals.

I've been pretty on the ball, so the way I see this series getting decided is that either the Bruins start getting overly physical or the Blackhawks run into a too-hot goalie, which Tuukka Rask, to this point, has been. Thing is, Chicago beat a hot goalie in Quick, and Boston really appears to have a good handle on staying away from retaliatory penalties and similarly stupid nonsense.

That leaves it to this: I checked into my hotel tonight, and I'm in room 1934. The Blackhawks won the Cup that year. I'm picking them in seven games.